One of the main things i’m never ever surprised about when meeting someone new is whether or not they’re interested in movies. it’s really a said-given, a modern day commonality of gross proportions, an extremely short journey towards discovering things we have in common; it’s high-school pimpin’ at it’s lowest form, and if you DON’T like watching movies, I’d rather NOT find out by directly bringing movies up –this is a gold trait I’d rather discover more naturally and in-the-moment; it makes you MORE BELIEVABLE; so by any and all means I try to SKIP this part of the initial “getting to know you” conversation as much as possible:
me: “so what do you enjoy doing in your spare time?”
her: “Oh I love to hang out with my friends <as opposed to kicking it with enemies & haters!?>,go shopping, listening to music, ya know?! <sips drink a sec, til eyes widen with self-discovery> OH! and Watching Movies!!! I LOOOVVEE a Good Movie!!”
normally the macrologist in me says: “oh really?! <leaning forward as if interested & surprised> what kind of movies do like?”
while the realist in me WANTS to say: “of course you do. air is valuable. “
Yet let us not deter from the severity of this week’s point: getting out the house, meeting up at the theater with your family/friends, to watch watch the new Red Tails movie during it’s OPENING WEEK — starting THIS FRIDAY Jan. 20-27th #supportchange #occupygrowth
HOW DOES A MOVIE, TV SHOW, COMMERICIAL, or MEDIA OUTPUT DEFINE US?
- glad you asked 
As a resident of KNOXVILLE, TN — i’m by geographical definition ‘a southerner’, a beneath the mason-dixon-liner; and I’m reminded every winter by my friends “up north” and “out west” :
NORTH: “…you call THIS cold?! HAHAHA!!! you’d NEVER survive a december in Cleveland”
WEST: “… snow is against my religion!– you should come out here, black, cause i’m STILL rockin’ da flops n’ shorts, homie!”
and I sincerely can’t count the amounts of times I’ve run into people, who’ve never been to the south, who IMMEDIATELY assume that we STILL have dirt roads everywhere, we all wear over-alls, drink moonshine with every meal, and JUST-NOW got the internet a few years ago; because ALL they ever saw about the south was DOLLYWOOD COMMERCIALS. so yes…media plays a HUGE roll in what’s known abroad.
SO HOW COULD SUPPORTING THIS MOVIE “CHANGE THINGS”?
1) It’s expansively educational.
It gives the viewer an in depth view on a story previously swept under the rug by common history.
2) It’s fights racism; see previous answer and read on
3) It supports the spreading of a rare known truth in a way that should make it easier for future movies to follow suit –
the ABSOLUTE power of films goes beyond my ability to describe in words here on this blog, but none of us can deny that we’ve been watching them and effected by them in some form or fashion; the main fashion in which I’m concerned about is knowledge obtained between the “viewer: reader ratio”.
UNFORTUNATELY most of us (especially kids-teens-youth) would rather see the movie than read the book. LEAVING the movie, tv, media (take out), etc — to be the end-all-learning station in a lot of cases pertaining to what happened in the past.
The real fire behind my writing is something that JAMIE FOXX said during the TONY AWARDS about DREAM GIRLS (a movie, with a predominantly African American cast,that received 8 awards that day and is quite possibly one of the best musicals in history) and how he was disappointed that the movie was playing in less than 40 theatres WORLD WIDE; whereas his other films have been in easily 200+ during their opening week.
Of course we all know any productions success is based upon it’s generated revenue, and very few of those movies receive a Tony Award (regardless of how much it sold) — so it would common sense that a movie with an all-star cast that amassed over 5 awards, should have and would have generated 10x’s what it did IF it had had the kind of exposure most block busters get. hell…BEYONCE (who played lead actress) alone gets more attention when she trips and falls on stage during a live performance.
HOW DOES A MOVIE GET WORLD WIDE? same way everything does from music to chia pets, it’s ALL about ‘distribution deals’ . FOR RED TAILS — GEORGE LUCAS himself has to write a check to get the movie made and another check to distribute this movie, cause ‘the hollywood powers that be’ would NOT support this film!!!!!! Which is odd because it has tons of actors (including CUBA GOODING JR.) who have done nothing but draw in audiences throughout their illustrious careers. To not support this film, which depicts African American males in a different light then most previous movies (you know…instead of the LONE WOLF -1-in-a-million black men are THIS amazing; whereas this one is shows an ”all together” “collectively having integrity and courage) — is a blatant out-right slap in the face towards progressive change.
It’s very important that the ENTIRE story is shared with EVERYONE of all ages, in all countries across the globe.
“Courage Has No Color”
